Symplocos cochinchinensis (Lour.) Moore ssp. laurina (Retz.) Nooteb.

പച്ചോട്ടി

Family : SYMPLOCACEAE

Synonym : Symplocos laurina (Retz.) Wall. ex G. Don

Common Names : Kamblivetti, Pachotti, Parala, Pambari, Chunga

Flowering Period : March-May

Distribution : Indo-Malesia and China

Habitat : Evergreen, semi-evergreen and shola forests

Uses : The plant is known to be one of the effective medicines for eye diseases. Possess biological activities like antioxidant activity, anti-inflammatory, antidiabetic, antilipidemic activities.

Key Characters :

Evergreen trees, to 15 m high, bark light grey, thin, smooth. Leaves simple, alternate, 5.5-15 x 2.5-6 cm, elliptic, elliptic-lanceolate or elliptic-oblong, apex acute or acuminate, base acute to attenuate, margin crenate-serrate, revolute, glabrous, yellow when dry, coriaceous or chartaceous; petiole 6-15 mm, slender, glabrous, grooved above; lateral nerves 7-8 pairs, pinnate, slender, glabrous; intercostae reticulate, faint. Flowers bisexual, white, in axillary simple or branched spikes, 7 cm long, pubescent; bracts solitary at the base of each pedicel; bracteoles early cauducous. Calyx tube adnate to the ovary, lobes 5, minute, lobes 1 mm, triangular. Corolla 1 cm across, lobes 5, ovate, 3 mm, recurved. Stamens many, equal, arranged in 5 group. Ovary 1 mm, inferior, globose 2-3-celled; ovules 2 in each cell, pendulous from the inner angle; style 5 mm, simple; stigma capitate. Fruit a drupe, 8 mm across, glabrous, ampulliform, globose ribbed, purple crowned by calyx lobes; seeds 1-3, oblong.